http://ajslp.pubs.asha.org/article.aspx?articleid=2593297The Relationship Between Grammatical Development and Disfluencies in Preschool Children Who Stutter and Those Who RecoverPurpose The dual diathesis stressor model indicates that a mismatch between a child's endogenous linguistic abilities and exogenous linguistic contexts is one factor that contributes to stuttering behavior. In the present study, we used a developmental framework to investigate if reducing the gap between endogenous and exogenous linguistics factors would ...2017-02-01T00:00:00Research ArticleJulia Hollister

Research Article | February 01, 2017

The Relationship Between Grammatical Development and Disfluencies in Preschool Children Who Stutter and Those Who Recover

PurposeThe dual diathesis stressor model indicates that a mismatch between a child's endogenous linguistic abilities and exogenous linguistic contexts is one factor that contributes to stuttering behavior. In the present study, we used a developmental framework to investigate if reducing the gap between endogenous and exogenous linguistics factors would result in less disfluency for typical children, children who recover from stuttering (CWS-R), and children who persist.

MethodChildren between 28 and 43 months of age participated in this study: 8 typical children, 5 CWS-R, and 8 children who persist. The children were followed for 18 months with language samples collected every 6 months. The Index of Productive Syntax (Scarborough, 1990) served as a measure of endogenous grammatical ability. Length and complexity of active declarative sentences served as a measure of exogenous linguistic demand. A hierarchical linear model analysis was conducted using a mixed-model approach.

ResultsThe results partially corroborate the dual diathesis stressor model. Disfluencies significantly decreased in CWS-R as grammatical abilities (not age) increased. Language development may serve as a protective factor or catalyst for recovery for CWS-R. As grammatical ability grew and the gap between linguistic ability and demand decreased; however, none of the three groups was more likely to produce disfluencies in longer and more complex utterances.

Acknowledgments

The data reported in this study were part of a multisite grant from the National Institutes of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (Grant R01# DC05210) in conjunction with the University of Illinois. PI: E. Yairi. We would also like to thank Bryan Brown and Rebecca Alper for assisting with reliability measures, Joshua Zhang and Sam Van Horne for their expertise in statistical analysis, and Edward Conture for his insight into the DDS model and his helpful comments on an earlier draft of this article. Last, we would like to thank all the parents and children who participated in this study.

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